


In Training

by delusionalintrospection



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Feels, M/M, Pathos, Pre-Strex Kevin, Torture, pre-strex Diego, this entire thing should just be called 'the breaking of Kevin Free'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 02:59:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2412509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delusionalintrospection/pseuds/delusionalintrospection
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All new Strexcorp employees have to go through a training period, just as with any major corporate office. With a lot of dedication and hard work, though, everyone can learn to be happy, productive members of the Strexcorp Team!</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Training

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightvalianDragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightvalianDragon/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was commissioned to write this. Blame Nightvaliandragon for this. Blame her. BLAME HER I SAY. 
> 
> For it twas her who wanted 'strex angst/pre-strex kevin angst'...and my brain ran with it.

They came slowly. It wasn’t like a tornado, or a typhoon; it was like a shark attack, like being hunted. Slow stalking, patience, and then pain and blood and you are doomed almost before you know you were ever in danger.

 

They came not out of the shadows, or the murky, dark places you expect danger from but instead from light and light and light- bright and beautiful. Safety. Clarity. Security. We look to the light when we’re afraid. We run to it when we feel unsafe. Light is, on some subconscious level, some animalistic, _instinctual_ level, something we as humans _trust_.

 

We have been trained- we have been _brainwashed_ \- into this.

 

 _Don’t trust the light_.

 

Kevin R. Free was in love. He knew he was in love from the moment he saw big brown eyes and a brilliant, shy smile and wild dark curls that always flopped over one eye no matter _how_ hard the man tried to tame them.

 

His name was Diego. He was a scientist; he was a little short and a little chubby and he was perfect. He had the _cutest_ stammer, especially when he was excited about something, and no fashion sense, and he was _perfect_.

 

It took nearly one full year for either of them to get the courage to approach the other. One year, and then suddenly he was being asked to dinner, that awkward, adorable little stammer in full swing, and he thought his face might crack from how hard he was smiling.

 

That was how the Voice of Desert Bluffs became the boyfriend of- and then engaged to- the most brilliant man the community had ever known to walk it’s sidewalks. (Okay, maybe he was a _little_ biased. Still, Diego _was_ brilliant.)

 

He sat now, just outside the studio, eyes closed and nodding along to the music pipping in through his ear buds. Diego was supposed to pick him up today; it was their two year anniversary, and apparently he was ‘being spoiled’ today.

 

His nodding and humming stopped when he felt the distinct presence of someone _looming_.

 

Kevin wasn’t very tall; especially sitting, it was easy to _loom_ over him. Still, he bristled a little instinctively, eyes snapping open.

 

There were men in suits looking down at him. He blinked, once, twice, and pulled out one of the ear buds.

 

“Hi there.” He greeted, voice smooth and soft; the Radio Voice, without even trying. They were _glaring_ , and he’d found that voice tended to sooth people down from being aggravated or angry. “Can I help you?”

 

One of the men finally moved. He was tall, dark, and smelled, _weirdly_ , like...a summer day. Sun-warmed grass, heat, as if Kevin was abruptly in the middle of an open field. His suit was black, but his shirt was yellow; yellow as goldenrod flowers. There was a small yellow triangle pinned to the corner of his jacket; a yellow triangle with an ‘S’ in the middle.

 

His smile was too wide when he smiled. It was like being grinned at by something inhuman.

 

It made his skin _crawl_.

 

“Kevin Free?”

 

“I, uh- yes. That’s me.” For some reason some little voice in the back of his mind _screamed_ at him to lie, even as he said it. To run and run, take Diego and never look back.

 

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Free. We’re the new owners of your studio.”

 

“The new-” He stopped, blinking. “I wasn’t aware we were getting a change in management.”

 

That smile again, wry and vicious.

 

“You could say the entire town is.”

 

 

His hackles rose again.

 

“The _entire_ town?”

 

“You could say that.”

 

“W-well.” Kevin didn’t extent a hand. He normally might have, but these men intimidated him.

 

No.

 

These men _frightened_ him.

 

“I- I- welcome to our humble little town, then.”

 

They left a few minutes later, not seeming in the least offended that he didn’t say more- for that matter, not saying anything more of note to him. He found himself calling Diego, needing to hear his voice.

 

“You saw them, too?” Diego asked, almost before Kevin spoke.

 

“I spoke to them.” He replied. “Are you on your way?”

 

“Yeah. Y-yeah, I’m coming now.”

 

Something in Kevin relaxed a little, and he closed his eyes, exhaling long and slow.

 

“Did they say something about....owning the town?”

 

“About owning my lab, yes.” Quietly. “Kevin-it’s fine. Don’t- d-don’t over think this. I know it seems odd, but-”

 

Kevin smiled, forced cheerful lightness that he didn’t feel. “Of course it’s fine, love. It’s all just rather sudden.”

 

And strange. Way too strange.

 

 

They were wrong, of course.

 

It was a slow take over. First, they just bought the town out. Then they instituted a curfew, their word from the mouth of Desert Bluff’s mayor. Then next, came the new laws- all also through her mouth, until one day she stepped down and was replaced.

 

Laws locking the people of Desert Bluffs into behaviors and regulations. People being pulled into custody over night for not being ‘productive’ enough, for being vulgar in public; for speaking out against the company.

 

Strex, it was called. StrexCorp.

 

The first mention of their Smiling God was when cautious confusion turned into real fear.

 

The things they wanted him to read out on air- the ads they wanted him to run. _Believe in a Smiling God_.

 

What the _hell_ was a Smiling God? Metaphorical?

 

Literal?

 

Why was a _company_ involving itself in some kind of-religious affair?

 

The more he heard, and read...the more it sounded like a cult and less like a _company_.

 

_Look around you. Strex. Look inside you. Strex._

 

“Something’s not right. I’m telling you, it gives me the willies.”

 

“Kevin, you’re just- being dramatic. It’s viral marketing or something.”

 

“ _Usurping the mayor_ is viral marketing?!”

 

Diego paused in his work, frowning. “Kevin, you really have no proof they did anything untoward to get her to step down. M-money is a powerful motivator.”

 

“Why would they _want_ her to step down, though? Why do they _care_? Why does a ‘company’ want to have control of this town so badly?”

 

This time, Diego pulled his glasses off and set them down. He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed, was silent for a long moment.

 

“I don’t know, Kevin.” He said, at last. “I d-don’t know what Strex is, or w-w-what they want. They haven’t h-hurt anyone, or done _anything_ besides be a little...w-w-wwweirdly shady. That’s...all. Does it b-bother me? A little bit, sure. But I think you’re making a mountain out of a m-m-molehill.”

 

That-stung, a little. He bit his lip, felt himself hunching.

 

A broad hand landed on one shoulder.

 

“S-sorry. I sound like I’m bru...brushing you off, don’t I?”

 

“Kind of.”

 

“I’m not. I would n-never.” A kiss landed on the back of his neck. “I love you.”

 

“I love you more.”

 

“Never.”

 

“Always.”

 

He laughed, nuzzling Kevin’s shoulder lightly. “But I also _know_ you, s-sweetheart. And you can be a little, uhm-”

 

“Dramatic.” Kevin smiled weakly. It wasn’t a lie.

 

“W-well- yes.” A soft chuff. “But that d-doesn’t mean I should just...write you off.”

 

“It just...all feels so wrong.” He leaned back into Diego’s chest, felt the strong arms curl around his shoulders comfortingly.

 

“It’ll be okay, love.” Diego assured, softly. “I promise.”

 

“You can’t-”

 

“Kevin Free. I’m a _scientist_.” Play entered his tone, lightly. “And if I say it’ll be okay- it will be.”

 

He chuckled, but, admittedly- it made him feel better.

 

It shouldn’t have. He shouldn’t have relaxed- let his guard down.

 

But by the time he realized that, it was too late to do anything about it. Too late to do anything but speak out on the radio. Subtle and subversive at first; then more and more openly as Strex took over more and more of the town.

 

 

Slowly, steadily, like spreading mold, like spreading infection, they took over. One by one, in singles and then doubles and then _housefuls_ , people began to smile wide, unnatural smiles. To coo at him sympathetically for not being _productive_ enough. To tell him it was such a _shame,_ wasn’t it, poor Diego’s stammer, wouldn’t he let someone _help_?

 

“My fiancee is not broken.” He would retort, through gritted teeth, “and he doesn’t need _help_.”

 

The fear really sank in when people started forgetting who they were _before_. They forgot families, friends, loved ones, personality quirks. They walked or were walked into Strex buildings and came back _changed_.

 

And by the time anyone realized something was _truly wrong_ besides Kevin, it was too late.

 

 

But he fought. He dug in and sang out and used the only weapon he had- his voice.

 

“ _Be strong, Desert Bluffs. Do not let them win. Do not let them take us. Fight them!”_

 

He spoke out. Desperately. Frantically. Loudly. He pleaded with them to band together. He begged them to attack back, to overthrow Strex, to not be afraid.

 

But he lost, in the end.

 

He struggled not to let Diego see how exhausted he was. How defeated. But his fiancee saw through his false smile, took him in his arms at the end of each day and kissed the top of his head and whispered _it’s okay_ and _I love you_ , and _we’ll be okay._

 

Whispered _let’s leave, Kevin. Let’s get out of here while we can_.

 

And Kevin- damn him, _damn_ his stupid, foolish hope, refusal to give up on a lost cause- refused.

 

“I can’t just walk away from them.” He replied. “This is my _home_.”

 

And Diego smiled, thin and grim, like he knew some horrible secret.

 

It was that part that lingered the worst. That smile.

 

Because by the time Kevin came home, that horrible day, and found Diego gone and a pool of blood and a politely worded note telling him in no uncertain terms what would happen if he didn’t stand down, he had to wonder how long Diego had known it was going to happen.

 

 


End file.
